SW Florida businesses can network via Web

Making new contacts, finding new business and keeping up to date with the latest news is sometimes difficult for business professionals on the go.

But Colin Wood, 25, of Naples, has created a new Web site — www.gulfshorenetwork.com — to fill the needs of busy business professionals in southwest Florida.

Using his savvy tech skills Wood launched what he calls the first site geared specifically for local businesses looking to stay connected.

“It’s a social networking site ... a place for business professionals to network with each other and it’s 100 percent free,” said Wood, who graduated from Barron Collier High.

He created the site, which launched about three weeks ago, after noticing that most sites including MySpace are for younger audiences.

“There is nothing like this in southwest Florida where its core focus is on this area,” he said about the site, which currently has more than 80 profiles created. “I thought ‘why not have something for southwest Florida and not for the whole country?’”

On the site, profiles that members create can include a picture, contact information about their business and specific interests.

The site also includes a discussion forum and an area for members to categorize their business based on clubs or groups.

Wood is currently working on putting all members in an area that categorizes them by business type.

“This will create more business for free,” Wood said of the site, which will include a few ads that won’t oversaturate the pages.

He is able to offer the site free of charge because the hosting cost is very low.

“It’s very inexpensive,” Wood said.

And, he would know. Wood first started in the business world at the age of 14 with quarter gumball machines.

By the age of 18, he bought up a local vending machine company and expanded it to 70 machines in southwest Florida.

“I have since sold the business and am focusing on this new venture,” he said, adding that he is hoping to launch another site with a focus on talent booking for musicians, DJs and comedians. “I’ve always been involved with computers and this site will just give people more.”